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Player Choice And Control In Warframe; The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.


Aktriaz
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As a dedicated tabletop roleplayer, both GM and player, I've learned how important giving the player control and/or choice around their character and the world, and I'd like to take a look at Warframe's good, bad, and ugly in those areas.

 

Would you say you, as a player, like to have as much freedom with how you play the game? To be able to approach challenges in your own innovative way other than the ones the designer has laid before you?

 

Starting with the Good.

 

The mod system.

NOW, before you go ahead and bash it for being "unsustainable" or "flooded with useless mods", think about how it would be if warframe was given a skill tree for each warframe, with arbitrary perks or feats. BOOM, creativity gone.

 

The mod system lets you play the game how you want. No classes, perks, skill points or anything like that. That is why a system like Shadowrun takes the crown IMHO on the field of roleplay, because it doesn't force the character a bland, min-maxing path, where class dictates you characters field of expertise.

 

I have a Silence/Melee/Speed Banshee build, focusing my entire build around the stagger that is caused by Silence. Warframe is the first game I've played that has given me that much choice in how I play the game. Maybe you people could spend less time bashing the mod system, and maybe appreciate the level of customization it gives you.

 

Now for the Bad.

 

Environmental Hazards and Encounters.

First thing I'd like to say, is I'm all for a challenge or change to gameplay, but not when it is completely random, unrewarding, and tedious or unavoidable. Like getting a cryogenics malfunction when you're not playing a Rhino, Loki, Ash or Valkyr. Just exit and restart. And just for clarity, it only effects the player. Not even your Sentinel is effected. It's just a straight-up -50% shields for absolutely no reason, simply because RNG feels like it.

 

If an extra challenge is forced upon the player, give them a good reason to brave it, like reward drops from the G3, Harvester, or Stalker. Getting an Ice level can be solved by exiting the mission and then entering back in. Quite literally "turning it off and back on again"... sadly, bad game design cannot be solved by the same means.

 

Now I'll get on to other hazards, like Arc traps. NOBODY LIKES THEM. They offer nothing to gameplay, in fact, most of the time they make it impossible to stealth on Galleons. Corpus Cameras can be easily seen and avoided, and the turrets are silent, not compromising stealth. Arc traps are loud, nigh impossible to notice and equally hard to avoid. You never, EVER want to make a hazard unavoidable to the player. Just remove Arc traps, NOBODY WILL MISS THEM. Stuff like the Magnetic Doors would be fine, once they can be avoided with just melee.

 

Now for the Ugly.

 

Invasion.

I loved the Gravidus Dilemma. Giving the players choice, and make that choice effect the world. There was no reason to side with the Grineer over Corpus, and vice-versa, even though Grineer won in the end.

 

I don't think I even need to explain my point on this one. Invasion has lost the ability to let the player have a choice. People will side with the Corpus because they know everyone else will side with Corpus.

 

How has this problem been looked at? Rigged battlepay. In order to stop the Grineer's tragic decline, "35k vs. 25k" has been running amok. Detron doesn't need to be buffed, Brakk doesn't need to be dropped more frequently. Farming for these weapons shouldn't decide the fate of the entire goddamn solar-system. The G3 and Harvester need to be given a new home, one where they won't cause the downfall of their own faction. Really. It's almost funny.

 

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This is just my take on the whole situation in Warframe. I'm not trying to force any opinion on you, this is just the goods, bads, and uglys I see in warframe.

While we're at it, why not say what got you into warframe in the first place? What gripped you tightly and dragged you deep into the game's world, and later it's forums?

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I think the minibosses are fine except that Zanuka needs some serious buffs, might as well send a Shield Drone to kill me Mr Salad V >:O

 

Also, I think if invasions would affect us more (maybe with the proxy system this can be done) the focus will be less on getting those weapons and marks and more on territory control AND rewards. The rewards right now are appalling, drop some resources, BPs, anything :/

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Also, I think if invasions would affect us more (maybe with the proxy system this can be done) the focus will be less on getting those weapons and marks and more on territory control AND rewards. The rewards right now are appalling, drop some resources, BPs, anything :/

That is almost exactly what invasion was in the Gravidus Dilemma, and why I loved it so much...

 

Lets hope the proxy system can live up to that.

Edited by Actriaz
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Guest Tehnoobshow

 

 

The mod system.

NOW, before you go ahead and bash it for being "unsustainable" or "flooded with useless mods", think about how it would be if warframe was given a skill tree for each warframe, with arbitrary perks or feats. BOOM, creativity gone.

 

The mod system lets you play the game how you want. No classes, perks, skill points or anything like that. That is why a system like Shadowrun takes the crown IMHO on the field of roleplay, because it doesn't force the character a bland, min-maxing path, where class dictates you characters field of expertise.

 

I have a Silence/Melee/Speed Banshee build, focusing my entire build around the stagger that is caused by Silence. Warframe is the first game I've played that has given me that much choice in how I play the game. Maybe you people could spend less time bashing the mod system, and maybe appreciate the level of customization it gives you.

Path of Exile says hi.

Edited by Tehnoobshow
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I disagree about skill trees not being better than the mod system. (Or rather, I disagree that the mod system is good.) Mostly because you don't really describe a skill tree as much as a skill twig.

 

The whole point of having a skill tree is to have way more options than the player can choose. In effect, a properly-done skill tree would offer all of the choice that the mod system does, in greater depth and with even more possible choice, without tying your build to random drops and inane grinding.

 

 

Plus, if you want a Warframe to have a special choice unique to it, with the mod system, you would have to dilute everyone's drop tables with a new mod that's literally only useful on one frame, and only if they want to use that specific ability. With skill trees, it would be a simple change to that frame's tree with no detrimental effect on anyone else's experience.

 

The mod system is mediocre, at best. The only reason not to use skill trees over mods is that it doesn't force players to grind against the RNG for basic gameplay elements, effectively shortening the game experience, which is bad for DE, because DE's business model is a Skinner Box.

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